Nice to meet you ...

[wolph42]

hi Cherno,

well... welcome is a bit late . Germany though: CIF is from there and Im a neighbour.

[prodyn]

thank you prodyn for the kind words and welcome to this forum! There aren't currently many new users though who find the installation of MT 'easy', due to the current incompatibility with java 7 (which will soon be fixed in the next release). So just to be sure I'd like to ask: are you sure that you and your friends all have java 6 installed? If not, check the announcements of this forum for more info.

I'll check with my buddies later on for their Java versions. Performing a LAN test, I am able to successfully launch the server on a Java 7 machine and connect as a user with a Java 6 client. No connection issues and everything seems to work fine without doing a more elaborate test.

[wolph42]

yes, MT appears to work with J7 but it isn't. I can't remember what exactly will happen and when, maybe the announcements on this forum shed some light on this but especially when you start using MT more heavily you'll get a certain error which will end the session there and then. So make sure you have j6 installed as well (you can run it parallel, just make sure you point to the right version).

[DicesMuse]

Hello to all here in the world of RPTools!

My name is Christopher and I run a blog (which is linked in my signature) that relates to using technology to make playing in or hosting RPGs easier. I do what I can to use Open Source technologies where possible and tend to discuss the pros and cons of each when possible.

Either way, I absolutely have loved using RPTools in the past, though I with the recent J7 update have run into a number of problems (Although many of which I have avoided by simply switching back to J6 while running). Seems this is a known issue so no worries.

In the meantime though, I am in the process of trying to learn the Maptools software, and in doing so, hopefully build a Framework for the Mutants and Masterminds game setting with some tweaks that reflect the home brew game I am putting together.

I have been watching as many of the videos as I can manage for tutorials and love how customizable everything is, though my lack of knowledge with Javascript has made things quite entertaining to say the least. Right now I am mostly trying to figure out how to make a macro that brings up a dialogue box to get basic input on modifying a single d20 roll (Which is often customary for any MnM game).

I hope over time I can provide my trials and tribulations as I get everything together. Really looking forward to see what everyone else has to share!

[wolph42]

Hi dicemuse, welcome to the forum. Note that mt does not support JavaScript (yet). But has its own language. There are however qte a few tutorials in the wiki you should check out. Including an introduction to the macro language. If that fails the you'll find a ver helpfull community here that is willing to help you over the hurdles.

[Yogojojo]

Hi dicemuse, welcome to the forum. Note that mt does not support JavaScript (yet). But has its own language. There are however qte a few tutorials in the wiki you should check out. Including an introduction to the macro language. If that fails the you'll find a ver helpfull community here that is willing to help you over the hurdles.

Hi there Wolph42,

I'm very new to the RPTools.net site, and to RPTools in general. I like what I see! I love the community that is able to do so much for our love of the hobby. I feel from your reputation you have here on the site that you may be able to paint a picture of what the current "State of the Union" is with MapTool and RPTools. If you would permit, I have a few basic questions to ask:

1) Is MapTool the mother software? How do the other tools (TokenTool, CharTool, etc) interplay? Are they separate software which need to be installed and supported?

2) What is the overall health of MTool at the moment? I notice that the latest version 1.3 (build88) was released in March of 2012 but is currently listed as broken on the Downloads page of the RPTools.net site. Has support for the software waned, or is it going to be continually developed?

3) Has the release of the roll20 browser-based VTT software hindered support here? Has it affected RPTools.net, and if so, how? Is RPTools.net considering a kickstarter of their own to gather momentum for support?

Thank you so much for your time, and for all the prior work you have put into the hobby.

[wolph42]

Hi there Wolph42,

I'm very new to the RPTools.net site, and to RPTools in general. I like what I see! I love the community that is able to do so much for our love of the hobby. I feel from your reputation you have here on the site that you may be able to paint a picture of what the current "State of the Union" is with MapTool and RPTools. If you would permit, I have a few basic questions to ask:

1) Is MapTool the mother software? How do the other tools (TokenTool, CharTool, etc) interplay? Are they separate software which need to be installed and supported?

2) What is the overall health of MTool at the moment? I notice that the latest version 1.3 (build88) was released in March of 2012 but is currently listed as broken on the Downloads page of the RPTools.net site. Has support for the software waned, or is it going to be continually developed?

3) Has the release of the roll20 browser-based VTT software hindered support here? Has it affected RPTools.net, and if so, how? Is RPTools.net considering a kickstarter of their own to gather momentum for support?

Thank you so much for your time, and for all the prior work you have put into the hobby.

what reputation...? what have I done now...

to answer your questions:
1) more or less. The different tools don't really intertwine and save the tokentool I also don't use them. The token tool is to create tokens: you can drag an image straight from a webpage onto the tool and then drag the result from the tool straight into maptool. Maptool has its own initiative tracker.

2) b87 is stable. I've been using it for close to a year now and save a few 'advanced' bugs ('advanced'=if you really dig deep in the macro code) it simply runs well. The biggest issues people have are:
a) its imcompatible with java 7 (at least the vision blocking part)
b) the uPnP to the router for port forwarding is broken (so you have to do it mannually)
c) lots and very complex vision blocking lines will result in complex Fog of war which will will bog down the game considerably.

a and b should be fixed with the next release, c will be improved but not on a fundamental level, this is reserved for 1.4
As for the development: the devs are working hard on 1.4 and they're all hobbyist so it goes slow. Azhrei is currently processing all the patches (he has done 16 out of 30 now) for the next b89 release.

3) undoubtedly it has has some influence but TBH since it release I've noticed an *increase* of activity on this forum... go figure. Overall MT and RP20 fulfil a different need. There is some overlap but overall they both have their merits and there pros are the others cons and vice versa. E.g. full webbrowser support is a big Pro of RP20 but in my case I play with a beamer laptop setup and that is to me a big Con. While the other way round MT can run locally which is a big pro, however to other a big con cause they need to install all kinds of stuff and need to run a local server.
As for kickstarter... I think it has been mentioned here before but I don't think that there's an interest for it as it somewhat requires for MT to become commercial which it isn't. Still feel free to create a post on the forum to get the discussion going!

[danlboon]

Recently retired after over 40 years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Started D&D with the three pamphlets and Chainmail. Fortunately, a friend had been playing and DMing with rules that had been enhanced by students at Caltech. Some time in the 80s we began playing roughly weekly. We began using MT when some of our group moved away.

I never used Java at work, but I have been learning it for some math experiments I have been running. I do have other software experience with C, C++, and many languages that aren't in much use any more. My career drifted toward management and planning, so I am looking forward to getting back into programming. Now I can do it for fun. I am such a geek!

I have a PhD in Math and Econ. I have been married to a non-geek who tolerates my geekness for 43 years. We have two grown sons.

[RPTroll]

Always happy to have another community member contributor. Welcome aboard.

[Bone White]

I have been married to a non-geek who tolerates my geekness for 43 years.

I don't know how someone does that, the only person I could ever find who could put up with my geekness was another geek

[Felloniuswizard]

Hello all nice people and experts.

I am an old RPG-DM in Sweden. I've been playing old RPG:s since mid 80:s and it has always been fun, educating and entertaining. I know very little about macros, I can't draw a straight line, and the rest of the technical skills, dried out somewhere around 1997. I'm old enough to realize that it'll soon be "bingo" time for me, and I hate the mere thought. Luckily, somewhere out of the blue, (Illinois to be more accurate), MapTool fell in my lap, a crazy Indian wanted to learn about TT-RPG:s, some other Twitter buddies joined that choir and as of Friday, we have started a D&D 2e (Rules Enc-version) Framework. Having my vacation ATM, I sat down today and made an OGRE campaign, (almost finished, it's only the tables left). I will then hunt down the guy with the Blood Bowl campaign, and most probably do a "Fight for the Sky"-campaign as well. Any table top game may be fitted to MapTool, (except the 3D:s of Necromunda and such, I have understood).

MapTool is amazeing. So how come I haven't heard about this until now??? I don't have an asnwer, I'm asking you, Mr Reader of this. Why isn't this on every possible place inside the social networks? How come there's so few videos on YouTube? (We've already been adding two within a week, Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5gEpI2S1Yk). Are you even sharing things with each other on this forum? I can't find you on Twitter, so hash tags are useless as well. Are you a secret society??? (And does NSA know that?)

I'm not educated in PR business, but there's obviously something wrong when an old roleplaying nation like Sweden, doesn't have anything connected to RPTools. We have had our own swedish RPG systems, and even if many of them are mostly tables and not so much roleplay, they are usable. And the new owner of the systems, have put up all their old stuff on their site: http://www.riotminds.se/ (Yes, I know it's in swedish, but I just wanted to point out it's existence).

OK, maybe I haven't digged deep enough. Whatever. But you will hear more from me. The world will hear from me about MapTool. No way this fantastic VTT-tool should just lie around in some web, used by a few experts. More Turials to the people! More words of PR to the World!

And Thank You, mr RPTool builder, who ever it is. I've never been so exited about roleplaying in the last ten years. Bingo? Mohahahahaha....
Sincerly,
Fellonius the Wizard, (and yes, it's a mis-spelled version of a magic-users name from the D&D Basic Set, Red Book, 1985)

[danlboon]

I have been married to a non-geek who tolerates my geekness for 43 years.

I don't know how someone does that, the only person I could ever find who could put up with my geekness was another geek

I think, with us, it is a matter of boundaries. I keep my geekness to to specific areas and situations. We also are comfortable spending time doing our own things rather than having to do everything together. Basically, I got lucky!

[RPTroll]

I have a non-geek for a wife. She tolerates my hobbies (for the most part) as long as I don't do a deep dive out of reality for too long.

[Azhrei]

[...] The world will hear from me about MapTool. No way this fantastic VTT-tool should just lie around in some web, used by a few experts. More Turials to the people! More words of PR to the World!

Heh-heh. A little energy goes a long way.

Ive just found out that the RPTools suite of tools could appear on the Mac App Store (if we bundle the JRE with the app). This might be something I'll look at in the future. It's not the same as having MT run on iDevices, but at least Mac OSX users would have an easier time finding us.

I don't know that we're a secret society, but we're all volunteers and we work in our area of specialty. So if you have the energy, and a specialty that involves evangelism, we're happy to have you help out should you wish to do so. (Our resident Bard is RPTroll here on the forum) and he keeps things going on Google+ and such, but as I said that stuff isn't my thing so I don't keep up with it much.

[RPTroll]

I guess i should say, "Welcome to the Bard's Guild!"

If you've got ideas and energy we'd love to have your help. We need convention folks with laptop/projector setups, people to spread the word on other forums, and folks to run demo games.